Blooming e-commerce industry coupled with increasing adoption of smartphones in Asia Pacific has significantly influenced the e-commerce payment market
The Global E-commerce payment market accounted for US$ 24.26 Bn in 2017 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.1% over the forecast period 2018–2025, to account for US$ 64.69 Bn in 2025.
Shopping online has become of the prevailing trend across the globe. E-retail sales have grown by over 18% year-on-year since last decade and has surpassed Euro 1 Tn in 2016. APAC shows the sturdiest development over the forecast period and currently accounts for nearly 50% of overall online retail sales. The governments of various economies in the region have taken initiatives to boost the e-commerce sector of their country. For instance, initiatives by Indian government such as Startup India, make in India, Digital India and Skill India are contributing to the e-commerce growth in India. Also, E-commerce payment market in the ASEAN countries is relatively underdeveloped as compared to economies such as Europe, the U.S., and China. To spur the growth, several initiatives have been introduced across the region such as the ASEAN ICT Masterplan 2015, and ASEAN Broadband Corridor.
The combination of smartphone as well as e-payment has significantly eased online shopping. Access to smartphone has accounted to over half of retail websites globally and nearly one-third of e-retail revenues. Further, to compete efficiently in Asia Pacific region, e-commerce players requires a comprehensive understanding of the unique characteristics of different economies is required. Southeast Asian countries comprises of several economies with population considering diverse methods of online payment. For instance, in Singapore and South Korea, credit cards are widely used for making e-commerce payments, while in Thailand e-wallet is highly preferred payment method. Moreover, bank transfer payment method is highly preferred in countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia.
Two of the fastest growing economies of Asia Pacific i.e. China and India, are also contributing significantly in the growth of e-commerce payment market. China is the largest e-commerce payment market, not only in Asia Pacific, but largest e-commerce payment market in the world. Further, the country is rapidly moving towards a cashless society, owing to the digital payment services operated by the two major e-commerce giants Alibaba and Tenscent affiliated Ant Financial. Alipay, Ten Pay, and WeChat Pay are key digital payment wallets that are driving the usage digital payment methods in China. Some of the key payment gateway service providers based in China includes Alipay, ChinaPay, 99Bill, YeePay and PayEase. Also, Some of the major payment gateway companies operating in India include; Razorpay, PayUbiz, WhizPay, Zaakpay, Directpay, Atom, CCAvenue, EBS and Citrus Pay among others. Digital wallets are the most preferred online payment method in the country and it gained momentum after demonetization in 2016. Some of the key eWallets are Paytm, MobiKwik, and FreeCharge.
